Interesting discussion going on in the comments section of my Tampa Bay race report, regarding a comment I made about Total Immersion. If any readers feel like chiming in, I’d be happy to hear your ideas.…

Without a team, a 24-mile swim doesn’t happen. Simple as that. And the swim’s success – it’s efficiency – depends on the quality of the team. Long swims are isolating experiences: A swimmer and his thoughts. But there’s an irony: The longer the swim, the more you utterly depend on your support team.

So any discussion of my experience in Tampa Bay must begin with my team.

NOTE: I wrote this as preface to my Tampa report, but it got a bit long so I decided to put it in a separate post. It’s not really specific to Tampa, anyway.

What’s a marathon swim? Without any historical reference point (as for marathon runs), there are various definitions. The official FINA and (as of 2008) Olympic distance is 10K – which has the virtue of similar finish times as marathon runs. Penny Lee Dean sets the bar at 16 miles. Ted Erikson says 10 miles. Steven Munatones, as usual, wrote a nice overview of the issue.

I’m not really interested in debating what is or isn’t a marathon swim, though I do think:

It must be in open water.

It should be nearly impossible (or at least very difficult) to finish without refueling mid-swim.

It should be very difficult to accomplish without support.

So, I’m fine with calling 10K a “marathon swim.” What about 24 miles, though? Typically, that’s described as an “ultra marathon swim.” My reason for discussing semantics here is, there’s something about a swim of that distance that’s not captured by merely adding the word “ultra.” A 24-mile swim is qualitatively (not just quantitatively) different than a 10K.…

I thought I should get something out now (however brief), with a more comprehensive report to follow. Yesterday was an experience that… will take a couple of days to process.

I fulfilled my goal of finishing the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim. The time (8:59) and place (1) were nice, but finishing was the hard part.

A few stats (some actual, some approximate):

water temp: 80F

air temp: 70F (low) to 88F (high)

wind speed: 15 mph (morning) to calm-ish (afternoon)

calories consumed: 2,800

calories burned: 5,000+

fluids consumed: 320 oz (9.5 liters)

strokes taken: 33,500 (a few on my back, for various reasons)

pace per mile: 22:27

Here are the data from the GPS transponder on my escort boat (ignore the blue line):

Credit my boat pilot for that incredibly true line. More on him later.

If you’re wondering about the detours at the bridges, that’s because certain portions of those bridges are too low for the boat to pass under. Specifically, the parts crossing over the shortest path to the finish. So the boat went around to find higher clearance, while my kayaker and I went under.…

How to stay motivated for races/events in the distant future. I’m going through a low motivation point now. Don’t really want to swim on my own, don’t want to watch what I eat, looking for excuses to pull out of [upcoming race].

The answer to this question could fill a dissertation… but here are some thoughts:

I’ll start with something obvious: If your goals or target races are too distant, set intermediate goals. If you don’t have time and/or money to travel to races, attend all the races in your area. If there are no races in your area, sign up for one or two “destination” races and supplement with local pool meets. Set a goal time for your 500 Free. If pool meets aren’t an option, do a 500 Free time trial in practice once a month. The important thing is to have something – anything – you’re aiming to achieve in the near-term.

An aside on goals: Goals can be both positive (“I want to do X”) and negative (“I want to avoid failure”). For ultra-endurance athletes, failure-avoidance can be a potent motivator.…